Claiming Travel Expenses Against Child Maintenance Payments

How is mileage calculated for child maintenance?

Can you claim travel expenses through the Child Maintenance Service?  Yes you can.  Claiming travel expenses for mileage can be done via the portal.  However you can only claim travel costs if you are a paying parent and have an open Child Maintenance Service case.

How Does It Work?

The Child Maintenance Service gives paying parents a discount off the maintenance payable, in order to take into account expenses for travel, such as train tickkets, and mileage costs for fuel.  

To claim, you need to ask for a special expenses variation.  The minimum claim is £10 per week.  So you will not be able to claim for a few miles.

Unlike travel expenses for work, you dont actually receive the money.  It is simply discounted off of your gross income, meaning that you pay slightly less child maintenance to the receiving parent.  The mileage cost per mile is significantly lower than the mileage that HMRC allow you to claim.  

So someone with a gross income of £200 per week, eligible for £10 per week travel, would see their gross income reduced to £190 per week, with calculations for maintenance assessed on the slightly smaller amount of £190.

The cost of the journey it is calculated using the HMRC advisory fuel rates which are not very generous.  They certainly dont cover the cost of running a car per mile.  The HMRC advisory rate used in the CMS calculation does change, in line with average prices on the petrol forecourts.  Rates can go up and down, and are recalculated every 3 months.  All the quarterley rates are shown in the tables at the end of the page.  

Example Calculation

Someone travels 100 miles per week and drives a 1400cc petrol car.

The rate for this calculation is 14p per mile.  

14p x 134 miles = £18.76.  So above the threeshold for a weekly claim.

They have 2 children, so CMS is 16% of income.

Assuming they do 52 journeys per year, annual mileage claim is 7000 miles.

7000 miles x 14p = £980 of travel.

That £980 is deducted from their income for the year.  In this case they earn £30,000 per year.

So a £980 deduction is applied to their salary.  So now their salary starts off as £29,020.

So originally on 30K their CMS at 16% was £400 per month.

So now on £29,020, their CMS of 16% is now £386.93 per month.

A saving of £13.06 per month or £3.00 per week.


How Do You Claim Travel Expenses

You claim for travel using the CMS portal.  You will need to be registered to use the portal.  Currently its not possible to register online, so you will need to call the CMS to set up your login details.  Be warned, CMS telephone lines warn that it could take an hour to get through.

Latest Rates

Rates Effective from 1 Dec 2023.

Fully electric cars are paid at a rate of 9p per mile.  Hybrids are paid based on the fuel  ie unleaded

Engine size	Petrol — rate per mile	LPG — rate per mile
1400cc or less	14 pence	10 pence
1401cc to 2000cc	16 pence	12 pence
Over 2000cc	26 pence	18 pence

Engine size	Diesel — rate per mile
1600cc or less	13 pence
1601cc to 2000cc	15 pence
Over 2000cc	20 pence

Previous Rate Effective from September 1st 2023 until 30 November 2023

Engine size	Petrol — rate per mile	LPG — rate per mile
1400cc or less	13 pence	10 pence
1401cc to 2000cc	16 pence	12 pence
Over 2000cc	25 pence	19 pence

Engine size	Diesel — rate per mile
1600cc or less	12 pence
1601cc to 2000cc	14 pence
Over 2000cc	19 pence

From 1 June 2023 to 31 August 2023
HMRC Advisory Rates Were:

Engine size	Petrol — rate per mile	LPG — rate per mile
1400cc or less	13 pence	10 pence
1401cc to 2000cc	15 pence	12 pence
Over 2000cc	23 pence	18 pence

Engine size	Diesel — rate per mile
1600cc or less	12 pence
1601cc to 2000cc	14 pence
Over 2000cc	18 pence

From 1 March 2023 to 31 May 2023

HMRC Advisory Rates Were:

Engine size	Petrol — rate per mile	LPG — rate per mile
1400cc or less	13 pence	10 pence
1401cc to 2000cc	15 pence	11 pence
Over 2000cc	23 pence	17 pence

Engine size	Diesel — rate per mile
1600cc or less	13 pence
1601cc to 2000cc	15 pence
Over 2000cc	20 pence

From 1 December 2022 to 28 February 2023

HMRC Advisory Rates Were:

Engine size	Petrol — rate per mile	LPG — rate per mile
1400cc or less	14 pence	10 pence
1401cc to 2000cc	17 pence	12 pence
Over 2000cc	26 pence	18 pence

Engine size	Diesel — rate per mile
1600cc or less	14 pence
1601cc to 2000cc	17 pence
Over 2000cc	22 pence

Previous Rates from one year ago in 1 Sep 22

As of 1st Sep 2022 the rates are shown in the table below.

Petrol

Engine size (cc)	Mean MPG	Fuel price (per litre)	Fuel price (per gallon)	Rate per mile	Advisory fuel rate
Up to 1400	51.9	174.2 pence	791.9 pence	15.3 pence	15 pence
1401 to 2000	44.1	174.2 pence	791.9 pence	18.0 pence	18 pence
Over 2000	28.8	174.2 pence	791.9 pence	27.5 pence	27 pence

Diesel

Engine size (cc)	Mean MPG	Fuel price (per litre)	Fuel price (per gallon)	Rate per mile	Advisory fuel rate
Up to 1600	60.7	185.2 pence	841.8 pence	13.9 pence	14 pence
1601 to 2000	49.8	185.2 pence	841.8 pence	16.9 pence	17 pence
Over 2000	38.8	185.2 pence	841.8 pence	21.7 pence	22 pence

LPG

Engine size (cc)	Mean MPG	Fuel price (per litre)	Fuel price (per gallon)	Rate per mile	Advisory fuel rate
Up to 1400	41.5	83.7 pence	380.5 pence	9.2 pence	9 pence
1401 to 2000	35.3	83.7 pence	380.5 pence	10.8 pence	11 pence
Over 2000	23.0	83.7 pence	380.5 pence	16.5 pence	17 pence

Electric Cars

The advisory electricity rate for fully electric cars is currently 9 pence per mile.  Hybrid rates are based on the non electric fuel used.

Source .gov.uk website.

Mileage allowances are not paid to receiving parents.  Paying parents wishing to claim need to make it clear that they want to claim the discount.  It wont simply be offered or applied automatically.